Want Algebra by 8th? Start With Proficiency in Foundational Skills by 4th

A new report from the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution finds that 120,00 students nationally are enrolled in algebra as eighth graders even though they have math skills comparable to those of the average second grader. That may not sound like a lot of students, but it’s nearly 8 percent of all American eighth graders enrolled in algebra courses, and to the extent that these underprepared students are spread across algebra courses with students who are better prepared, their presence may have a negative impact on the quality of algebra instruction offered to a much larger population of students.

Report author Tom Loveless suggests that this finding calls into question the recent policy push, particularly in some high-poverty urban school districts, to enroll increasing numbers of eighth graders (in some cases, all eighth graders) in algebra. But it also highlights the need to get much more serious about improving the quality of math instruction provided to students in the elementary grades. Students arrive in eighth grade doing math at a second grade level only when their elementary schools have seriously failed in teaching them basic math knowledge and skills.

The National Math Panel recommends that children achieve proficiency in whole number operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) by fourth grade. Mastering these skills by the end of fourth grade is an essential prerequisite for students to be able to understand algebra by eighth grade. The substantial number of ill-prepared students in eighth grade algebra classes is a case study in the need for alignment that ensures the standards, curricula, and teaching strategies (as well as teacher trainign and professional development) we use in the early grades are designed to build seemlessly towards the accomplishment of goals we have for children to master in later years. In other words, if we want kids to master algebra by eighth, we need to focus at least as much energy on getting them proficient in whole number operations by fourth. That’s a lot harder than simply mandating algebra for all eighth graders, but in the long term the results will be much better.

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